


Haunted House

by CateBeLate



Category: Marvel, Marvel AU - Fandom
Genre: Cute as hell tbh, F/M, Halloween Special, Halloween prompt, Some Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-26 20:02:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16688002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CateBeLate/pseuds/CateBeLate
Summary: The boys go to a haunted house and whomp whomp, Nat's there.





	Haunted House

“Bullshit.”

The claim was bold, spoken with undying confidence towards Buck in terms of what he’d just claimed. Sam refused to believe what he was just told. There’s no way. 

“I’m not joking,” Buck said, nonchalance allowing him to lazily flip the page of the magazine in hand. They were bored, looking at college publications, and itching for something to do. 

“There’s no way you’re not afraid of anything. Everyone’s afraid of something.” Sam had been looking at what classes to take the following semester, trying to plot out just how busy his week would be, somehow squeezing in his part-time job at the coffee shop. It was still unbelievable that his name tag still read ‘Choclatino’ and management was okay with it. 

“Buck, you screamed like a girl when we watched ‘IT!’,” Steve decided to chime in from behind his sketchbook, not even bothering to glance up from whatever he was working on.

“I was eight years old, Steve. I would’ve screamed if a leaf fell on me.” The two others could only nod in agreement. 

“Listen, prove your manliness, Mister Manly Man of the Mountains. Tonight, we’ll go to the Haunted House they’re doing down in The Hub. You make it through that without flinching or, god forbid, screaming, and I’ll pay for your ticket. And a beer.” It was an enticing offer, one that Buck couldn’t really pass up.

“You’re on, Choclatino.” They shook hands, and Steve could only roll his eyes to the point of them nearly falling out of his head. This was bound to either be sorely disappointing or downright amusing - there would be no middle ground.

Four hours later and the trio arrived at The Hub, which was bustling with the colors of the upcoming holiday, complete with dollar store decorations and prerecorded screams from some stock website. Needless to say, Buck was skeptical.

“Give it some time, you’ll get scared. Promise,” Sam spoke as they stood in line to get tickets to the Haunted House, of which was promising a “Ghoulishly” good time. The puns were killing Buck while his two friends were absolutely delighted by it. 

“Doubt it. This is just a place that’s gonna be jumpscare after jumpscare after jumpscare. I bet it’ll be zombies, werewolves, and dracula. We’ll be lucky if there’s a Frankenstein’s monster.” Buck had his arms crossed over his chest, his attitude clearly bringing down the hype.

“If you don’t embrace the spirit soon, I’m going to put you in a headlock until you pass out. You’re bumming the kids out behind us.” Steve might’ve been joking, but he was never really one to bluff when it came to others. Buck wouldn’t put it past him to follow through on this particular threat.

“Alright, alright, alright. I’ll quit talking about it.”

They went through, getting their tickets with Buck murmuring at the back of the group.

“I paid $40 so I better die,” he said darkly, though he was happy Sam and Steve didn’t hear his complaint. He could’ve gotten himself a good dinner for once rather than go through with these so-called traditions.

They had a guide on the tour. Of all things to really bring down the scare factor, there was a tour guide. This brought Bucky to balk at the image of the Bride of Frankenstein touring them around, but he was quick to cover it up with a series of coughs so he could avoid a headlock in public. 

“Come on, come on. Everyone in the foyer. We’re going to have to put two groups together since we’re pretty crowded tonight. The halls are pretty narrow so try to buddy up with someone to conserve space.” 

‘Oh, this is a joke,’ Buck thought, but then a sudden . . . slow horror began to envelope him. Sam and Steve had buddied up. A flash of red at his side brought him to turn and look. Oh god, it was the girl from Uni. Oh god, it was the foreign exchange student who had such a thick Russian accent that she sounded ( and looked ) like a Bond Girl. 

Oh god, it was Natalia Romanova.

“Hullo, James,” she all but purred. Did she know how she sounded? Oh god. 

“Uh, hey, Nat-...alia.” Nailed it.

Sam glanced over his shoulder, nudged Steve with his elbow to get him to look, then turned back forward with the sound of laughter trailing him. Steve was quick to follow suit 

Oh god. 

Oh god.

The Haunted House didn’t move fast enough, and Buck was hyper-aware of how close Natalia was to him, how her arm would sometimes brush against him, how she nearly jumped into his arms at one particular jumpscare that involved a hooded figure jumping out with an obviously plastic butcher knife. Christ, her perfume was amazing. 

Don’t stare at her. 

This was an Anxiety House, not a Haunted House. And it was taking forever to get through. Buck couldn’t even remember what the general theme of the place was, or what was even going on. It was all just her. Just Natalia.

It wasn’t until they got out on the other side that he meekly chuckled, giving something of a very pitiful goodbye to Natalia as she thanked him for saving her from the scares and walking over to her friend. Suddenly, it felt like he could finally exhale.

“Someone got scared,” Sam chimed in, snapping Buck back to the here and now. Both he and Steve had huge shit-eating grins plastered on their faces.

“That place wasn’t scary at all. It was such a kid show,” Buck fired back.

“Nah, nah. It wasn’t the house that scared you. Natalia scared you,” Steve pointed out.

“No no-” Buck started.

“Oh definitely. You had big bug eyes and were as pale as a ghost. You were scared shitless, man.” Sam was already started to chuckle, Steve of course following the infectious laughter.

Buck, who was feeling remarkably indignant about a very true thing they pointed out, refused to let them have the last word.

“FuCK NO! I am NOT afraid of a girl!”

“You’re afraid of being around her, that’s for damn sure.” Goddamn it, Steve.

He was right, but Buck wasn’t going to let him know that. He couldn’t let him have that satisfaction.


End file.
